We haven't had any doing the rounds here for it must be 40 + years, I remember one when I was just kid about 8 years old because of Steptoe and Son on the TV at the time and I was excited about seeing one in 'real life'

We have several scrap men in Transit pickups. They have speakers fitted that play their calling tune. They are incredibly efficient. Yesterday I placed the metal frame of a broken deck chair at the end of the drive and within 30 minutes it was gone.

You don't get goldfish anymore though

No rag and bone men but we do have the scrap men coming round fairly regularly. You need to keep your eye open for them though if you have anything you want to get rid of, because though they drive quite slowly, with one of them hanging out of the window on the passenger side, they're often gone before you've had a chance to stop them.

Yes Hi de Hi ours are in transits too...with speaker I presume but still shout Ragbone

Nope no Goldfish here either :(. Hubby tells the tale of giving his dad's best coat to the Rag n bone man and his mam made him chase after the cart to get it back I don't think those in the Transits would be interested in old clothes though.

They are more like vultures around here - our neighbour left his mower on the front drive after cutting the weeds and went inside for a cup of tea -his wife came in from shopping...to find two eastern europeans loading it on to their scrap wagon!!!!!
Also a few weeks ago, one guy knocked on my door to ask if he could take the assorted bits left on the drive of the house opposite- I said I didn't know but better not to take it -looked out an hour later and it had all gone -fortunately the lady had meant it for the scrappers but still............

When I was very young, the rag and bone man that came around our area gave pottery (basic utility type) instead of cash.
I still had two ‘proper pudding bowls’ from him up to about three weeks ago, damn cat jumped up and broke them, shame, they’re a part of my past.

This has got me thinking, I grew up in a small rural village and we also had a Frenchman, well he said he was French and had a foreign accent, probably came from Glasgow or somewhere similarly exotic anyway he came around on a black bike wearing a beret and had strings of onions around his neck, I still recall everybody calling him 'onion Johnny'

I still recall everybody calling him 'onion Johnny'

yes many of them

They were back this morning except without the tannoy he was just shouting out of his Tranny window except it sounded like "Yagbone"

I remember being at school with the children of our local rag and bone man! They were the best dressed kids in school and non of it second hand, now the same family run a 'textile recycling' business in the town and they still don't wear hand-me-downs!